I'm releasing version 0.31 of the Clip Art Navigator. This is the
first release that I believe is ready for general use. Get it from<br>
<br>
<a href="http://download.berlios.de/ocalhelper/clipartnav-0.31.tar.gz">http://download.berlios.de/ocalhelper/clipartnav-0.31.tar.gz</a><br>
<br>
Installation is now much simpler. Basically, just extract it and
its ready to use. The only dependencies are Python 2.4, GTK 2.6,
and PyGTK 2.6 (even Inkscape isn't required). However, Inkscape
and PyXML are both reccommended. The package can be used both as
a standalone program (the main executable is clipartnav.py) and as an
Inkscape extension.<br>
<br>
It isn't necessary, but you'll almost certainly want to setup a local
clip art repository for it to use first. Instructions are in the
README, but basically, just extract an OCAL release somewhere (I
reccommend /usr/share/clipart), run the included "indexClipart.py"
script on that directory (with the optional verbose flag... for
example, "python indexClipart.py -v /usr/share/clipart"), and then
update the config file (clipartnav.conf) so that the "repodir" setting
under the "localocal" section matches the directory you just
indexed. To install for use with Inkscape, just copy the contents
of the package (without the top level directory) to your Inkscape
extensions directory. Adding a GUI for this process is high on my
todo list.<br>
<br>
I should note that remote OCAL access is currently SLOW... on the order
of 1 minute for a search that returns 5 images when I use it. To
turn off the OCAL module, just remove the word "ocal" from the
"modules" setting in the configuration file.<br>
<br>
I believe that the code is currently ready to be preliminarily checked
into Inkscape CVS. The main question I have about that right now
is how to deal with the configuration file. The script searches
for the config file both in the Inkscape extensions directory and in
the ".inkscape" directory in the user's home dir (both can be used
simultaneously... conflicting settings favor the user file). The
extensions dir seems like a pretty dumb place to put a configuration
file; is there a better location I should use? The problem with
the user folder is that its per user; you'd have to create one for
every Inkscape user on the system, and it seems more logical to make
the main config file, at least, be system wide.<br>
<br>
Feedback greatly appreciated. I've got good internet, and check
my email like its my job, so if you have problems getting it to work,
please let me know.<br>
<br>
Greg<br>